Ⅲ 冰雨的风暴 Chapter71 丹妮莉丝

DAENERYS

在平台花园的柿子树下，她一边吃早餐一边看小龙围绕大金字塔顶端互相追逐，那里曾经耸立的高大鹰身女妖青铜像今已遵令拆除。弥林另有二十座稍小的金字塔，但它们连这座的一半高都不到。从这儿，她可以俯瞰整个城市：狭窄弯曲的小巷和宽阔的砖头大街，神庙和谷仓，陋室与宫殿，妓院和澡堂，花园及喷泉，还有大斗技场的圈圈红砖看台。城墙外是白蜡般的海，蜿蜒的斯卡札丹河，干燥的棕色山丘，焚毁的果园，以及焦黑的田野。在这座高高在上的花园里，丹妮感觉自己像个神，居住于圣山之颠。

Dany broke her fast under the persimmon tree that grew in the terrace garden, watching her dragons chase each other about the apex of the Great Pyramid where the huge bronze harpy once stood. Meereen had a score of lesser pyramids, but none stood even half as tall. From here she could see the whole city: the narrow twisty alleys and wide brick streets, the temples and granaries, hovels and palaces, brothels and baths, gardens and fountains, the great red circles of the fighting pits. And beyond the walls was the pewter sea, the winding Skahazadhan, the dry brown hills, burnt orchards, and blackened fields. Up here in her garden Dany sometimes felt like a god, living atop the highest mountain in the world.

神灵都这样孤独吗？有些定然是。弥桑黛给她讲过和谐之神，“和平之民”纳斯人所崇拜的神；据小文书说，他是唯一的真神，过去将来永恒存在，是他创造了月亮和星辰，创造了大地以及一切居住其中的生灵。可怜的和谐之神。丹妮很同情他。永远地独处一定非常可怕，侍奉你的只有所谓的蝴蝶仙女，而你可以随时创造或毁灭她们。维斯特洛至少有七个神，尽管韦赛里斯告诉她，有些修士说那只是同一个神的不同外表，同一颗水晶的七个平面。那太令人迷惑了。听说红袍僧们信仰两个神，但这两个神却处于永恒的斗争中。丹妮更不喜欢。她才不想处于永恒的斗争中。

Do all gods feel so lonely? Some must, surely. Missandei had told her of the Lord of Harmony, worshiped by the Peaceful People of Naath; he was the only true god, her little scribe said, the god who always was and always would be, who made the moon and stars and earth, and all the creatures that dwelt upon them. Poor Lord of Harmony. Dany pitied him. It must be terrible to be alone for all time, attended by hordes of butterfly women you could make or unmake at a word. Westeros had seven gods at least, though Viserys had told her that some septons said the seven were only aspects of a single god, seven facets of a single crystal. That was just confusing. The red priests believed in two gods, she had heard, but two who were eternally at war. Dany liked that even less. She would not want to be eternally at war.

弥桑黛奉上鸭蛋和狗肠，外加半杯酸柑汁兑的甜酒。蜂蜜招来了苍蝇，但一支熏香蜡烛即将它们赶走。她发现在如此高处，苍蝇不像城里其他地方那样讨厌，这是她喜欢金字塔的又一个地方。“我得采取措施对付苍蝇，”丹妮说，“纳斯的苍蝇多吗，弥桑黛？”

Missandei served her duck eggs and dog sausage, and half a cup of sweetened wine mixed with the juice of a lime. The honey drew flies, but a scented candle drove them off. The flies were not so troublesome up here as they were in the rest of her city, she had found, something else she liked about the pyramid. “I must remember to do something about the flies,” Dany said. “Are there many flies on Naath, Missandei?”

“纳斯有很多蝴蝶，”小文书用通用语答道，“再添些酒？”

“On Naath there are butterflies,” the scribe responded in the Common Tongue. “More wine?”

“不。我很快就得上朝。”丹妮喜欢上了弥桑黛。金色大眼晴的小文书虽然年轻，却十分睿智。她也很勇敢。如此才能在恶劣环境中生存。她希望有一天可以看看传说中的纳斯岛。弥桑黛说“和平之民”制造音乐而非战争。他们不事杀戮，连动物都不伤害；他们只吃瓜果，不食血肉。侍奉和谐之神的蝴蝶精灵们守护着岛屿，以抵御外敌。无数征服者曾航向纳斯，妄图带去血与火，结果却纷纷病死。然而贩奴船前来劫持时，蝴蝶精灵却没帮他们。“总有一天我会带你回家，弥桑黛。”丹妮许诺。若我向乔拉许下同样的诺言，他还会出卖我吗？“我发誓。”

“No. I must hold court soon.” Dany had grown very fond of Missandei. The little scribe with the big golden eyes was wise beyond her years. She is brave as well. She had to be, to survive the life she’s lived. One day she hoped to see this fabled isle of Naath. Missandei said the Peaceful People made music instead of war. They did not kill, not even animals; they ate only fruit and never flesh. The butterfly spirits sacred to their Lord of Harmony protected their isle against those who would do them harm. Many conquerors had sailed on Naath to blood their swords, only to sicken and die. The butterflies do not help them when the slave ships come raiding, though. “I am going to take you home one day, Missandei,” Dany promised. If I had made the same promise to Jorah, would he still have sold me? “I swear it.”

“小人甘愿留在您身边，陛下。纳斯将永世长存，而您对小——对我恩重如山。”

“This one is content to stay with you, Your Grace. Naath will be there, always. You are good to this—to me.”

“你对我也很好。”丹妮执起女孩的手。“来，帮我更衣吧。”

“And you to me.” Dany took the girl by the hand. “Come help me dress.”

姬琪和弥桑黛给她洗澡，伊莉摆出衣服。今天她穿紫色锦绣长袍，系一条银腰带，头戴碧玺兄弟会在魁尔斯送的三头龙王冠，此外，银色凉鞋的跟高得令她担心会摔倒。等着装完毕，弥桑黛奉上一面银镜，好让她看看自己的模样。丹妮默默凝视自己。这是征服者的脸庞吗？她自己觉得仍旧是小女孩的脸。

Jhiqui helped Missandei bathe her while Irri was laying out her clothes. Today she wore a robe of purple samite and a silver sash, and on her head the three-headed dragon crown the Tourmaline Brotherhood had given her in Qarth. Her slippers were silver as well, with heels so high that she was always half afraid she was about to topple over. When she was dressed, Missandei brought her a polished silver glass so she could see how she looked. Dany stared at herself in silence. Is this the face of a conqueror? So far as she could tell, she still looked like a little girl.

还没有人称她为征服者丹妮莉丝，但将来也许会。征服者伊耿用三头龙赢得维斯特洛，而她凭借一群阴沟鼠和一根木桩在不到一天的时间里夺取了弥林。可怜的格罗莱。她知道他仍在为自己的船而伤心。如果舰只可以相撞，为何不能撞门呢？想到这里，她令船长们将船靠岸，卸下桅杆当攻城锤。蜂拥而上的自由民则拆开船身，制造遮篷、龟盾、弹石器和云梯。佣兵们为每根冲城槌各取了一个粗俗的名字，“米拉西斯号”——原先的“戏谑约索号”——的主桅撞破了东门。他们管它叫“约索的命根子”。激烈的战斗残酷而血腥，持续了大半个白天，一直进行入夜。刚巧在木头快要断裂之前，“米拉西斯号”的铁制船首像，一张小丑的笑脸，撞入城门中。

No one was calling her Daenerys the Conqueror yet, but perhaps they would. Aegon the Conqueror had won Westeros with three dragons, but she had taken Meereen with sewer rats and a wooden cock, in less than a day. Poor Groleo. He still grieved for his ship, she knew. If a war galley could ram another ship, why not a gate? That had been her thought when she commanded the captains to drive their ships ashore. Their masts had become her battering rams, and swarms of freedmen had torn their hulls apart to build mantlets, turtles, catapults, and ladders. The sellswords had given each ram a bawdy name, and it had been the mainmast of Meraxes—formerly Joso’s Prank—that had broken the eastern gate. Joso’s Cock, they called it. The fighting had raged bitter and bloody for most of a day and well into the night before the wood began to splinter and Meraxes’ iron figurehead, a laughing jester’s face, came crashing through.

丹妮本想亲率部队出动，但军官们认为，即使是男子，这也属于疯狂行为。她的军官们从不赞成她做任何事。她只好留在后方，穿件长锁甲，坐于银马上。然而城陷的声音，她在半里格之外都听得到，防御者们挑衅的呼喝刹那间化为恐惧的哭喊。那一刻，她的龙齐声咆哮，为黑夜填满火焰。她知道奴隶们起义了。我的阴沟鼠咬断了他们的锁链。

Dany had wanted to lead the attack herself, but to a man her captains said that would be madness, and her captains never agreed on anything. Instead she remained in the rear, sitting atop her silver in a long shirt of mail. She heard the city fall from half a league away, though, when the defenders’ shouts of defiance changed to cries of fear. Her dragons had roared as one in that moment, filling the night with flame. The slaves are rising, she knew at once. My sewer rats have gnawed off their chains.

最后的抵抗被无垢者粉碎后，洗劫也自然而然地随之发生，这时丹妮方才入城。死尸高高地堆在残破的城门前，自由民花了近一个小时才为她的银马清出通道。“约索的命根子”及用来保护它的、覆盖马皮的木制龟盾被弃置在门内。她骑过废墟和破窗，穿越砖头街道，排水沟里堵满僵硬肿胀的尸体。兴高采烈的奴隶们在她经过时举起血手，高喊“母亲”。

When the last resistance had been crushed by the Unsullied and the sack had run its course, Dany entered her city. The dead were heaped so high before the broken gate that it took her freedmen near an hour to make a path for her silver. Joso’s Cock and the great wooden turtle that had protected it, covered with horsehides, lay abandoned within. She rode past burned buildings and broken windows, through brick streets where the gutters were choked with the stiff and swollen dead. Cheering slaves lifted bloodstained hands to her as she went by, and called her “Mother.”

大金字塔前的广场上，弥林人绝望地挤作一团。晨曦之中，伟主大人们看上去毫无伟岸之像。被剥夺了首饰和流苏托卡长袍的他们，显得十分卑微，老人们阴囊萎缩，皮肤斑驳，年轻人则顶着荒谬可笑的头发。他们的妇女要么肥胖软弱，要么干瘦得像陈年竹竿，脸上则挂有道道泪痕。“我要你们的首领，”丹妮吩咐他们，“交出他们，余人宽恕。”

In the plaza before the Great Pyramid, the Meereenese huddled forlorn. The Great Masters had looked anything but great in the morning light. Stripped of their jewels and their fringed tokars, they were contemptible; a herd of old men with shriveled balls and spotted skin and young men with ridiculous hair. Their women were either soft and fleshy or as dry as old sticks, their face paint streaked by tears. “I want your leaders,” Dany told them. “Give them up, and the rest of you shall be spared.”

“多少？”一个老妇人抽泣着问，“要多少人您才会饶恕我们？”

“How many?” one old woman had asked, sobbing. “How many must you have to spare us?”

“一百六十三人。”她回答。

“One hundred and sixty-three,” she answered.

她把他们钉在环绕广场的木桩上，互相指着旁边的人。下令时，她心中充满炽烈狂暴的怒火，感觉自己就是一条复仇的真龙。但事后，当她经过柱子上那些濒死的活人，听见他们的呻吟，闻到肠子和血肉的恶臭……

She had them nailed to wooden posts around the plaza, each man pointing at the next. The anger was fierce and hot inside her when she gave the command; it made her feel like an avenging dragon. But later, when she passed the men dying on the posts, when she heard their moans and smelled their bowels and blood …

丹妮皱起眉头，放下银镜。这是正义。是的。我这么做是为了我的孩子们。

Dany put the glass aside, frowning. It was just. It was. I did it for the children.

觐见室在下面一层，高高的天花板，紫色大理石墙，充满回音。这里虽然庄严，却极阴深。原有的王座，将镀金木头雕成精致而凶猛的鹰身女妖。她凝视良久后，下令将它劈成柴火。“我不要坐在鹰身女妖膝上。”她宣布。取而代之的是一张简单的乌木长椅，虽然实用，弥林人却认为不合女王的尊严。

Her audience chamber was on the level below, an echoing high-ceilinged room with walls of purple marble. It was a chilly place for all its grandeur. There had been a throne there, a fantastic thing of carved and gilded wood in the shape of a savage harpy. She had taken one long look and commanded it be broken up for firewood. “I will not sit in the harpy’s lap,” she told them. Instead she sat upon a simple ebony bench. It served, though she had heard the Meereenese muttering that it did not befit a queen.

血盟卫们在等她。煽过油的辫子里银铃轻响，他们还戴着死人的金银珠宝。弥林的富裕超乎想象，连佣兵们也个个心满意足——至少暂时如此。房间另一端，灰虫子身穿无垢者的朴素制服，尖刺青铜盔夹于腋下。她至少可以依靠他们几个——或者说希望如此——外加布朗·本·普棱，壮实的布朗·本头发灰白，面容饱经风霜，她的龙对他十分钟爱。还有他边上金光闪闪的达里奥。达里奥，本·普棱，灰虫子，伊丽，姬琪，弥桑黛……丹妮望着他们，寻思哪一个接下来会背叛她。

Her bloodriders were waiting for her. Silver bells tinkled in their oiled braids, and they wore the gold and jewels of dead men. Meereen had been rich beyond imagining. Even her sellswords seemed sated, at least for now. Across the room, Grey Worm wore the plain uniform of the Unsullied, his spiked bronze cap beneath one arm. These at least she could rely on, or so she hoped … and Brown Ben Plumm as well, solid Ben with his grey-white hair and weathered face, so beloved of her dragons. And Daario beside him, glittering in gold. Daario and Ben Plumm, Grey Worm, Irri, Jhiqui, Missandei … as she looked at them Dany found herself wondering which of them would betray her next.

龙有三个头。全世界我还有两个人可以信赖——假如能找到的话。到时候，我不再是孤身一人。我们三个一同对抗全世界，就像伊耿和他的妹妹们。

The dragon has three heads. There are two men in the world who I can trust, if I can find them. I will not be alone then. We will be three against the world, like Aegon and his sisters.

“城内真如表面显示的那么风平浪静吗？”丹妮问。

“Was the night as quiet as it seemed?” Dany asked.

“确实如此，陛下。”布朗·本·普棱回答。

“It seems it was, Your Grace,” said Brown Ben Plumm.

她很高兴。同所有陷落的城市一样，弥林遭到野蛮的洗劫，但在彻底占领城市之后，丹妮决定停止暴力。她颁布命令，杀人者将被处绞刑，抢劫者失去一只手，强暴者则切下阳具。如今，八个杀人犯挂在城墙上，无垢者们送来一大桶血淋淋的肢体和软绵绵的红色蠕虫。弥林终于恢复平静。但能维持多久呢？

She was pleased. Meereen had been sacked savagely, as new-fallen cities always were, but Dany was determined that should end now that the city was hers. She had decreed that murderers were to be hanged, that looters were to lose a hand, and rapists their manhood. Eight killers swung from the walls, and the Unsullied had filled a bushel basket with bloody hands and soft red worms, but Meereen was calm again. But for how long?

一只苍蝇在脑袋边嗡嗡作响，丹妮恼怒地挥手赶开，可它又立即回来。“城里苍蝇太多了。”

A fly buzzed her head. Dany waved it off, irritated, but it returned almost at once. “There are too many flies in this city.”

本·普棱哈哈大笑，“没错，早上我的麦酒里就有苍蝇。我还吞了一只。”

Ben Plumm gave a bark of laughter. “There were flies in my ale this morning. I swallowed one of them.”

“苍蝇是死者的报复。”达里奥微笑着抚摸中间那支胡子。“死尸孕育蛆虫，蛆虫诞生苍蝇。”

“Flies are the dead man’s revenge.” Daario smiled, and stroked the center prong of his beard. “Corpses breed maggots, and maggots breed flies.”

“那我们得赶紧处理尸体，从下面的广场开始。灰虫子，你愿意负责吗？”

“We will rid ourselves of the corpses, then. Starting with those in the plaza below. Grey Worm, will you see to it?”

“女王下令，小人遵从。”

“The queen commands, these ones obey.”

“带上麻袋和铲子，阿虫。”布朗·本建议，“那些家伙烂透了，正零零碎碎地从柱子上掉下来，爬满……”

“Best bring sacks as well as shovels, Worm,” Brown Ben counseled. “Well past ripe, those ones. Falling off those poles in bits and pieces, and crawling with …”

“他知道。我也知道。”丹妮想起自己在阿斯塔波的惩罚广场里感受到的恐怖。我制造了同样强烈的恐怖，但他们应有此报。残酷的正义仍是正义。

“He knows. So do I.” Dany remembered the horror she had felt when she had seen the Plaza of Punishment in Astapor. I made a horror just as great, but surely they deserved it. Harsh justice is still justice.

“陛下，”弥桑黛说，“吉斯人把受敬重的死者埋在自家住宅下的地穴里。若您把骨头煮干净，送还他们的亲人，将是一项善举。”

“Your Grace,” said Missandei, “Ghiscari inter their honored dead in crypts below their manses. If you would boil the bones clean and return them to their kin, it would be a kindness.”

寡妇们照样会诅咒我。“就这么办。”丹妮招呼达里奥，“今天早上有多少人求见？”

The widows will curse me all the same. “Let it be done.” Dany beckoned to Daario. “How many seek audience this morning?”

“有两个人请求沐浴您的恩泽。”

“Two have presented themselves to bask in your radiance.”

达里奥在弥林夺得一整柜的新衣服，为与之相配，他重新染了三叉胡须和卷发，染成鲜艳的深紫色。这让他的眼睛看起来几乎也成为紫色，仿佛是失落的瓦雷利亚人。“他们昨晚乘划桨商船‘靛星号’到达，这船来自魁尔斯。”

Daario had plundered himself a whole new wardrobe in Meereen, and to match it he had redyed his trident beard and curly hair a deep rich purple. It made his eyes look almost purple too, as if he were some lost Valyrian. “They arrived in the night on the Indigo Star, a trading galley out of Qarth.”

是条贩奴船吧。丹妮皱起眉头。“他们是谁？”

A slaver, you mean. Dany frowned. “Who are they?”

“靛星号的船长和一个自称为阿斯塔波代表的人。”

“The Star’s master and one who claims to speak for Astapor.”

“我先见使节。”

“I will see the envoy first.”

来人肤色白皙，长着貂一样的尖脸，脖子上挂着串串沉重的珍珠与金丝。“主人！”他高声说，“我名叫盖尔。我带来了阿斯塔波之王，伟大的克莱昂，对龙之母的问候。”

He proved to be a pale ferret-faced man with ropes of pearls and spun gold hanging heavy about his neck. “Your Worship!” he cried. “My name is Ghael. I bring greetings to the Mother of Dragons from King Cleon of Astapor, Cleon the Great.”

丹妮不禁一愣，“我留下议会统治阿斯塔波。由一名医生、一名学者和一名牧师领导。”

Dany stiffened. “I left a council to rule Astapor. A healer, a scholar, and a priest.”

“主人，那帮狡猾的无赖背叛了您的信任。他们策划恢复善主大人们的权势，给人民套上锁链，幸而计划败露。伟大的克莱昂揭发了他们的阴谋，用屠刀砍下他们的脑袋，心怀感激的阿斯塔波民众因为他的英勇而给他戴上王冠。”

“Your Worship, those sly rogues betrayed your trust. It was revealed that they were scheming to restore the Good Masters to power and the people to chains. Great Cleon exposed their plots and hacked their heads off with a cleaver, and the grateful folk of Astapor have crowned him for his valor.”

“尊贵的盖尔，”弥桑黛用地道的阿斯塔波方言问，“这个克莱昂跟曾属于格拉兹旦·莫·乌尔霍的克莱昂是同一人吗？”

“Noble Ghael,” said Missandei, in the dialect of Astapor, “is this the same Cleon once owned by Grazdan mo Ullhor?”

她的语气坦率大方，提出的问题却显然让使节很不安。“是同一人，”他承认，“一位伟人。”

Her voice was guileless, yet the question plainly made the envoy anxious. “The same,” he admitted. “A great man.”

弥桑黛倾身靠近丹妮。“他曾是格拉兹旦厨房里的屠夫，”女孩凑在她耳边轻声说，“据说杀猪是阿斯塔波的一把手。”

Missandei leaned close to Dany. “He was a butcher in Grazdan’s kitchen,” the girl whispered in her ear. “It was said he could slaughter a pig faster than any man in Astapor.”

我给了阿斯塔波一个屠夫国王。丹妮很不痛快，但又不能在使节面前表现出来。“愿克莱昂国王英明贤治。他找我何事？”

I have given Astapor a butcher king. Dany felt ill, but she knew she must not let the envoy see it. “I will pray that King Cleon rules well and wisely. What would he have of me?”

盖尔揉揉嘴巴，“也许我们该私下里谈，陛下？”

Ghael rubbed his mouth. “Perhaps we should speak more privily, Your Grace?”

“我和我的军官们之间没有秘密。”

“I have no secrets from my captains and commanders.”

“遵命。伟大的克莱昂要我宣告他对龙之母的忠诚。您的敌人就是他的敌人，首要的便是渊凯的贤主大人们。他提议阿斯塔波和弥林结盟，共同对抗渊凯。”

“As you wish. Great Cleon bids me declare his devotion to the Mother of Dragons. Your enemies are his enemies, he says, and chief among them are the Wise Masters of Yunkai. He proposes a pact between Astapor and Meereen, against the Yunkai’i.”

“我发过誓，只要他们释放奴隶，便将秋毫无伤。”丹妮道。

“I swore no harm would come to Yunkai if they released their slaves,” said Dany.

“这帮渊凯狗不能信任，主人，他们无时无刻不在策划颠覆您。他们征募新军，在城墙外操练；他们建造战舰，还派出使节前往西方，前往岛上的新吉斯和自由贸易城邦瓦兰提斯，以建立联盟及雇用佣兵；他们甚至派遣快骑深入维斯·多斯拉克，以图招来一个卡拉萨。伟大的克莱昂让我向您保证，无须害怕。阿斯塔波不会忘记您，不会抛弃您。为证明他的诚意，伟大的克莱昂提议用联姻来确保盟约。”

“These Yunkish dogs cannot be trusted, Your Worship. Even now they plot against you. New levies have been raised and can be seen drilling outside the city walls, warships are being built, envoys have been sent to New Ghis and Volantis in the west, to make alliances and hire sellswords. They have even dispatched riders to Vaes Dothrak to bring a khalasar down upon you. Great Cleon bid me tell you not to be afraid. Astapor remembers. Astapor will not forsake you. To prove his faith, Great Cleon offers to seal your alliance with a marriage.”

“联姻？跟我？”

“A marriage? To me?”

盖尔微微一笑，他的牙齿棕黄腐烂。“伟大的克莱昂将会给您许多健壮的儿子。”

Ghael smiled. His teeth were brown and rotten. “Great Cleon will give you many strong sons.”

丹妮无言以对，但小弥桑黛替她解了围，“他的大老婆有没给他生儿子？”

Dany found herself bereft of words, but little Missandei came to her rescue. “Did his first wife give him sons?”

使节不快地瞅瞅她，“伟大的克莱昂的大老婆替他产下三个女儿，两名小老婆也有了身孕。但别担心，倘若龙之母许婚，他将把她们统统废掉。”

The envoy looked at her unhappily. “Great Cleon has three daughters by his first wife. Two of his newer wives are with child. But he means to put all of them aside if the Mother of Dragons will consent to wed him.”

“他真高尚，”丹妮说，“我会仔细考虑你说的一切，大人。”她下令在下层金字塔内为盖尔安排房间。

“How noble of him,” said Dany. “I will consider all you’ve said, my lord.” She gave orders that Ghael be given chambers for the night, somewhere lower in the pyramid.

所有的胜利都在我手中化为渣滓，她心想，不管怎么做，带来的只有死亡和恐怖。阿斯塔波发生的事将很快四处传播，届时，数万新获自由的弥林奴隶无疑会下定决心随她西行，如果留下，不知会有何等命运……然而行进途中等待他们的也好不到哪里去。就算清空城内每座谷仓，任由弥林陷入饥馑，她也无法养活这么多人！前路漫长而严酷，充满未知的艰险，乔拉爵士警告过她。他警告过她许多……他……不，我不要去想乔拉·莫尔蒙。让他再等等。“带商船船长。”她宣布。也许他有好消息。

All my victories turn to dross in my hands, she thought. Whatever I do, all I make is death and horror. When word of what had befallen Astapor reached the streets, as it surely would, tens of thousands of newly freed Meereenese slaves would doubtless decide to follow her when she went west, for fear of what awaited them if they stayed … yet it might well be that worse would await them on the march. Even if she emptied every granary in the city and left Meereen to starve, how could she feed so many? The way before her was fraught with hardship, bloodshed, and danger. Ser Jorah had warned her of that. He’d warned her of so many things … he’d … No, I will not think of Jorah Mormont. Let him keep a little longer. “I shall see this trader captain,” she announced. Perhaps he would have some better tidings.

结果愿望落了空。靛星号的船长是魁尔斯人，因此问起阿斯塔波的情况时，他不停地流泪。“整座城市都在泣血。未葬的死尸在街道上腐烂，每座金字塔都成了全副武装的军营，集市里既没有食物也没有奴隶。还有可怜的孩子们！屠夫国王手下的强盗抓走阿斯塔波每位贵族的儿子，以制造新的无垢者进行交易，虽然离完成训练还需要好多年。”

That proved to be a forlorn hope. The master of the Indigo Star was Qartheen, so he wept copiously when asked about Astapor. “The city bleeds. Dead men rot unburied in the streets, each pyramid is an armed camp, and the markets have neither food nor slaves for sale. And the poor children! King Cleaver’s thugs have seized every highborn boy in Astapor to make new Unsullied for the trade, though it will be years before they are trained.”

最让丹妮吃惊的是她居然并不惊讶。她想起了埃萝叶，那个她试图保护的拉札林女孩，想起发生在她身上的事。我起程后，弥林也会是同样的结局，她心想。斗技场的奴隶生来接受杀戮训练，脑海中唯有好斗与蛮横，现下他们自认为是城市的主人，城中男男女女的生死祸福皆可管辖。被绞死的八人中就有两个角斗士。无可奈何，她告诉自己。“你想要什么，船长？”

The thing that surprised Dany most was how unsurprised she was. She found herself remembering Eroeh, the Lhazarene girl she had once tried to protect, and what had happened to her. It will be the same in Meereen once I march, she thought. The slaves from the fighting pits, bred and trained to slaughter, were already proving themselves unruly and quarrelsome. They seemed to think they owned the city now, and every man and woman in it. Two of them had been among the eight she’d hanged. There is no more I can do, she told herself. “What do you want of me, Captain?”

“奴隶，”他说，“我的货舱装满了象牙、龙涎香、斑马皮及其他高档货。我愿用它们来交换奴隶，再去里斯和瓦兰提斯贩卖。”

“Slaves,” he said. “My holds are full to bursting with ivory, ambergris, zorse hides, and other fine goods. I would trade them here for slaves, to sell in Lys and Volantis.”

“我们没有奴隶。”丹妮说。

“We have no slaves for sale,” said Dany.

“女王陛下？”达里奥踏步上前，“河边挤满了请求出卖自己给这个魁尔斯人的弥林人。他们的数目比苍蝇还多。”

“My queen?” Daario stepped forward. “The riverside is full of Meereenese, begging leave to be allowed to sell themselves to this Qartheen. They are thicker than the flies.”

丹妮很是震惊，“他们想当奴隶？”

Dany was shocked. “They want to be slaves?”

“提出申请的都是谈吐文雅的好人家，亲爱的女王，这样的奴隶价值不菲。在自由贸易城邦，他们会成为教师、文书、床奴，甚至医生和牧师。他们将睡上软床，吃到美食，居住于宽敞的豪宅中。而在这儿，他们失去了一切，被恐惧与贫穷所笼罩。”

“The ones who come are well spoken and gently born, sweet queen. Such slaves are prized. In the Free Cities they will be tutors, scribes, bed slaves, even healers and priests. They will sleep in soft beds, eat rich foods, and dwell in manses. Here they have lost all, and live in fear and squalor.”

“我明白了。”阿斯塔波的故事传来后，发生这种情况也许并不奇怪。丹妮考虑片刻。“任何自愿卖身的人，都予准许。包括女人。”她举起一只手。“但他们不可以卖孩子，男人也不可以卖妻子。”

“I see.” Perhaps it was not so shocking, if these tales of Astapor were true. Dany thought a moment. “Any man who wishes to sell himself into slavery may do so. Or woman.” She raised a hand. “But they may not sell their children, nor a man his wife.”

“在阿斯塔波，奴隶易手时，城邦将抽取十一税。”弥桑黛告诉她。

“In Astapor the city took a tenth part of the price, each time a slave changed hands,” Missandei told her.

“我们也一样。”丹妮决定。战争不只需要士兵，也需要金钱。“以十一为额度，收取金银象牙，但弥林不需要藏红花、丁香或斑马皮。”

“We’ll do the same,” Dany decided. Wars were won with gold as much as swords. “A tenth part. In gold or silver coin, or ivory. Meereen has no need of saffron, cloves, or zorse hides.”

“谨遵旨令，荣耀的女王，”达里奥说，“我的暴鸦团将会收取您的十一税。”

“It shall be done as you command, glorious queen,” said Daario. “My Stormcrows will collect your tenth.”

丹妮知道，若让暴鸦团去收，至少一半的钱财会流失。但次子团也一样腐败，无垢者虽然清廉，却未受教育。“做好记录，”她吩咐，“由自由民中会读写算术的人负责。”

If the Stormcrows saw to the collections at least half the gold would somehow go astray, Dany knew. But the Second Sons were just as bad, and the Unsullied were as unlettered as they were incorruptible. “Records must be kept,” she said. “Seek among the freedmen for men who can read, write, and do sums.”

靛星号船长完事后躬身请辞。丹妮在乌木椅上不安地挪动。她害怕接下来的事，但又明知自己已经拖得太久。渊凯和阿斯塔波，战争的威胁，联姻的请求，还有最重要的西进……我需要我的骑士们。我需要他们的剑，更需要他们的谏言。然而想到再见乔拉·莫尔蒙，感觉就像吞下了一勺苍蝇：愤怒、不安、恶心。她几乎可以感觉到它们在肚子里嗡嗡地飞来飞去。我是真龙血脉，必须要坚强。面对他们，我眼里得是火而非泪。“叫贝沃斯带我的骑士们上来，”丹妮赶紧下令，以免改变主意，“我优秀的骑士们。”

His business done, the captain of the Indigo Star bowed and took his leave. Dany shifted uncomfortably on the ebony bench. She dreaded what must come next, yet she knew she had put it off too long already. Yunkai and Astapor, threats of war, marriage proposals, the march west looming over all … I need my knights. I need their swords, and I need their counsel. Yet the thought of seeing Jorah Mormont again made her feel as if she’d swallowed a spoonful of flies; angry, agitated, sick. She could almost feel them buzzing round her belly. I am the blood of the dragon. I must be strong. I must have fire in my eyes when I face them, not tears. “Tell Belwas to bring my knights,” Dany commanded, before she could change her mind. “My good knights.”

壮汉贝沃斯气喘吁吁地爬上楼梯，将他们带进门，两只胖乎乎的手各紧抓一个骑士。巴利斯坦爵士高昂着头，乔拉爵士的眼睛却盯着大理石地板。一个骄傲，一个负疚。老人剃掉白胡子后，看上去年轻了十岁；但她秃顶的大熊却仿佛比实际年龄更老。他们在座椅跟前停下。壮汉贝沃斯往后退开，双臂环抱在满是疤痕的胸前。乔拉爵士清清嗓子，“卡丽熙……”

Strong Belwas was puffing from the climb when he marched them through the doors, one meaty hand wrapped tight around each man’s arm. Ser Barristan walked with his head held high, but Ser Jorah stared at the marble floor as he approached. The one is proud, the other guilty. The old man had shaved off his white beard. He looked ten years younger without it. But her balding bear looked older than he had. They halted before the bench. Strong Belwas stepped back and stood with his arms crossed across his scarred chest. Ser Jorah cleared his throat. “Khaleesi …”

她如此想念他的声音，却又必须严厉。“安静。该说话的时候我自会吩咐你。”她站起身。“当我派你们去下水道时，心中暗暗希望那是彼此最后一次见面。对于骗子来说，淹死在奴隶商人的污秽里是个恰当的结局。我以为诸神会处理你们，但你们却回来了。我英勇的维斯特洛骑士，一个告密者，一个变色龙。我哥哥会绞死你们俩。”韦赛里斯一定会。她不知雷加会怎么做。“我承认，你们帮我赢得了这座城市……”

She had missed his voice so much, but she had to be stern. “Be quiet. I will tell you when to speak.” She stood. “When I sent you down into the sewers, part of me hoped I’d seen the last of you. It seemed a fitting end for liars, to drown in slavers’ filth. I thought the gods would deal with you, but instead you returned to me. My gallant knights of Westeros, an informer and a turncloak. My brother would have hanged you both.” Viserys would have, anyway. She did not know what Rhaegar would have done. “I will admit you helped win me this city …”

乔拉爵士绷紧嘴唇，“我们为你赢得了这座城市。我们这帮阴沟鼠。”

Ser Jorah’s mouth tightened. “We won you this city. We sewer rats.”

“安静。”她重复……尽管他说的是事实。当初“约索的命根子”及其他冲城锤撞击城门，弓箭手们向城头射出火箭时，她派出两百人，在黑暗掩护下沿河点燃码头的船只——然而所有这些都只是幌子——趁火船吸引了城墙上守军的注意，一群疯狂的自愿者游到下水道的排泄口，掰开一道锈穿的铁栅栏。乔拉爵士、巴利斯坦爵士、壮汉贝沃斯及其他二十名勇敢的傻瓜就这样自褐色的污水里偷偷潜入，沿着砖块甬道前进。这是一支由佣兵、无垢者和自由民混合而成的队伍，丹妮只要没家室的人……没有嗅觉则更佳。

“Be quiet,” she said again … though there was truth to what he said. While Joso’s Cock and the other rams were battering the city gates and her archers were firing flights of flaming arrows over the walls, Dany had sent two hundred men along the river under cover of darkness to fire the hulks in the harbor. But that was only to hide their true purpose. As the flaming ships drew the eyes of the defenders on the walls, a few half-mad swimmers found the sewer mouths and pried loose a rusted iron grating. Ser Jorah, Ser Barristan, Strong Belwas, and twenty brave fools slipped beneath the brown water and up the brick tunnel, a mixed force of sellswords, Unsullied, and freedmen. Dany had told them to choose only men who had no families … and preferably no sense of smell.

他们不但勇敢，而且幸运。离上次降雨已有一月，因此下水道里的污水只到大腿的高度。他们用油布包裹火炬，以保持照明。一些自由民被硕大的老鼠给吓傻了，直到壮汉贝沃斯逮住一只，咬成两截。另有一人被巨大的白蜥蜴杀死，它突然从黑乎乎的水里跃将出来，咬住人腿，拖将下去，但等下一次水波泛漾时，乔拉爵士用剑宰了那畜生。他们几度转错方向，然而刚上地面，壮汉贝沃斯就领着大家直奔最近的斗技场，打了那儿的守卫一个措手不及，并斩断奴隶们的锁链。一小时之内，弥林一半的角斗士都奋起反抗。

They had been lucky as well as brave. It had been a moon’s turn since the last good rain, and the sewers were only thigh-high. The oilcloth they’d wrapped around their torches kept them dry, so they had light. A few of the freedmen were frightened of the huge rats until Strong Belwas caught one and bit it in two. One man was killed by a great pale lizard that reared up out of the dark water to drag him off by the leg, but when next ripples were spied Ser Jorah butchered the beast with his blade. They took some wrong turnings, but once they found the surface Strong Belwas led them to the nearest fighting pit, where they surprised a few guards and struck the chains off the slaves. Within an hour, half the fighting slaves in Meereen had risen.

“你们帮我赢得了这座城市。”她坚决地重复。“你们过去都曾为我效力，表现上佳。巴利斯坦爵士将我自泰坦私生子手中救出，在魁尔斯时，还挫败了遗憾客的阴谋；而你，乔拉爵士，则在维斯·多斯拉克揪出下毒者，我的日和星死后，也是你从卓戈的血盟卫手中拯救了我。”太多人要置她于死地，几乎数不过来。“然而你们撒谎，欺骗我，背叛我。”她首先转向巴利斯坦爵士。“你曾保护我父王多年，也在三叉戟河上与我哥并肩作战，后来却背叛了流亡的韦赛里斯王子，向篡夺者屈膝。这是为什么？我要真相。”

“You helped win this city,” she repeated stubbornly. “And you have served me well in the past. Ser Barristan saved me from the Titan’s Bastard, and from the Sorrowful Man in Qarth. Ser Jorah saved me from the poisoner in Vaes Dothrak, and again from Drogo’s bloodriders after my sun-and-stars had died.” So many people wanted her dead, sometimes she lost count. “And yet you lied, deceived me, betrayed me.” She turned to Ser Barristan. “You protected my father for many years, fought beside my brother on the Trident, but you abandoned Viserys in his exile and bent your knee to the Usurper instead. Why? And tell it true.”

“真相并不总招人喜欢。劳勃是个……优秀的骑士……他仗义，英勇……他不止宽恕了我，还饶过许多人的性命……韦赛里斯王子只是个小男孩，还要等许多年，才适合统治，而且……请原谅，女王陛下，您要的是真相……童年时代的令兄，韦赛里斯，已经显示出他是父亲的儿子，与雷加截然不同。”

“Some truths are hard to hear. Robert was a … a good knight … chivalrous, brave … he spared my life, and the lives of many others … Prince Viserys was only a boy, it would have been years before he was fit to rule, and … forgive me, my queen, but you asked for truth … even as a child, your brother Viserys oft seemed to be his father’s son, in ways that Rhaegar never did.”

“父亲的儿子？”丹妮皱起眉头。“什么意思？”

“His father’s son?” Dany frowned. “What does that mean?”

老骑士没有眨眼，“在维斯特洛，您父亲被称为‘疯王’。没人告诉过您吗？”

The old knight did not blink. “Your father is called ‘the Mad King’ in Westeros. Has no one ever told you?”

“韦赛里斯说过。”疯王。“篡夺者如此称呼他，篡夺者和他的走狗。”疯王。“那是谎言。”

“Viserys did.” The Mad King. “The Usurper called him that, the Usurper and his dogs.” The Mad King. “It was a lie.”

“倘若闭目塞听，”巴利斯坦爵士轻声道，“又何苦寻求真相？”他犹豫片刻，“我以前解释，使用假名是为了防止兰尼斯特家知道，那只是原因的一部分。陛下，更重要的是，在我发誓为您效忠之前，想要观察一段时间，确定您不是……”

“Why ask for truth,” Ser Barristan said softly, “if you close your ears to it?” He hesitated, then continued. “I told you before that I used a false name so the Lannisters would not know that I’d joined you. That was less than half of it, Your Grace. The truth is, I wanted to watch you for a time before pledging you my sword. To make certain that you were not …”

“……我父亲的女儿？”我不是父亲的女儿，那又是谁？

“… my father’s daughter?” If she was not her father’s daughter, who was she?

“……疯狂的化身。”他续道。“幸运的是，我未曾发现任何缺陷。”

“… mad,” he finished. “But I see no taint in you.”

“缺陷？”丹妮怒火上涌。

“Taint?” Dany bristled.

“我并非学士，不会征引历史，陛下。我的生命在于长剑，不依于书本。但七大王国每个孩童都知道，坦格利安家族素来游离于疯狂的边缘。您父亲不是第一个特例。杰赫里斯国王曾告诉我，疯狂和伟大是同一枚硬币的两面，每当一位坦格利安降生，诸神就将硬币抛向空中，整个世界将屏息观察它的降落。”

“I am no maester to quote history at you, Your Grace. Swords have been my life, not books. But every child knows that the Targaryens have always danced too close to madness. Your father was not the first. King Jaehaerys once told me that madness and greatness are two sides of the same coin. Every time a new Targaryen is born, he said, the gods toss the coin in the air and the world holds its breath to see how it will land.”

杰赫里斯。这老人认识我祖父。想到这里，迟疑油然而生。毕竟，她所知的维斯特洛大多来自哥哥，少部出于乔拉爵士。而巴利斯坦爵士忘记的事或许都比他们两个知道的加起来还要多。唯有此人明白我的出身渊源。“因此我是某位神祗手中的硬币，对吧，爵士先生？”

Jaehaerys. This old man knew my grandfather. The thought gave her pause. Most of what she knew of Westeros had come from her brother, and the rest from Ser Jorah. Ser Barristan would have forgotten more than the two of them had ever known. This man can tell me what I came from. “So I am a coin in the hands of some god, is that what you are saying, ser?”

“不，”巴利斯坦爵士答道，“您是维斯特洛真正的君主。假如您认为我还值得佩剑，我将永远是您忠诚的骑士，直到生命尽头；如若不然，我满足于侍奉壮汉贝沃斯，做他的侍从。”

“No,” Ser Barristan replied. “You are the trueborn heir of Westeros. To the end of my days I shall remain your faithful knight, should you find me worthy to bear a sword again. If not, I am content to serve Strong Belwas as his squire.”

“假如我断定你只配当我的弄臣呢？”丹妮挖苦地问，“或者厨子？”

“What if I decide you’re only worthy to be my fool?” Dany asked scornfully. “Or perhaps my cook?”

“我会非常荣幸，陛下，”赛尔弥平静而尊严地说，“我烤苹果、煮牛肉不比别人差，还用篝火烤过许多鸭子。我希望您喜欢油乎乎的烤鸭，有焦黑的皮和带血的骨头。”

“I would be honored, Your Grace,” Selmy said with quiet dignity. “I can bake apples and boil beef as well as any man, and I’ve roasted many a duck over a campfire. I hope you like them greasy, with charred skin and bloody bones.”

这番话让她微笑。“要能吃到这样的美食，我宁愿当个疯子。本·普棱，把你的剑交给巴利斯坦爵士。”

That made her smile. “I’d have to be mad to eat such fare. Ben Plumm, come give Ser Barristan your longsword.”